Nicholas Biddle

Nicholas Biddle (September 10, 1750 Philadelphia, Thirteen Colonies-March 17, 1778 Barbados, Province of the Bahamas) was a British naval officer who first served in the Royal Navy but later became one of the first five captains of the Continental Navy. He died in 1778 while fighting HMS Aquila.

Biography
Biddle was born in Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania, part of Great Britain's Thirteen Colonies in North America. He joined the Royal Navy in 1770, and in 1773, he met future naval hero Horatio Nelson and became acquainted with him.

In 1776, he became the captain of USS Randolph, capturing HMS True Briton and three other ships in September 1777. On March 17, 1778, off Barbados, his ship clashed with HMS Yarmouth and HMS Aquila, and when a cannonball hit the gunpowder magazine, he died with all but four of 305 crewmen. However, some witnesses described him being killed by an assassin, who then shot the magazine due to Biddle's request to go down with his ship.